“I send my friends to your Web site.”
“Yeah, I noticed. They bought lots of T-shirts for Christmas presents.”
“Everyone needs T-shirts,” she said with a grin.
Suddenly Danny looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know if I ever thanked you, Miss De Luca. For getting me that job with Ace. For believing I was more than a troublemaker.”
Caprice patted his shoulder. “I think I related to you. When I was a teenager I felt a lot of defiance and rebelliousness but kept it inside. I learned to channel it in a positive direction and I hoped you could do the same. And you have.”
She could see red start to creep up Danny’s neck and she didn’t want to embarrass him more. Moving away, she said, “I won’t hold you up. I found a kitten and have to buy supplies for my nana who is going to take care of her and keep her if her owner doesn’t come forward. In fact, I have a flyer for Gretta to post on her bulletin board.”
“Gretta put out new pamphlets for dog and cat owners if you’re interested.”
She could see he was trying to back out of their conversation so she gave him help. “I’ll check them out.”
Touring the store, she picked up everything Nana would need for Valentine, from a kitty litter pan to litter, a nourishing kitten food, and a cute pink fleecy bed Nana could fit anywhere she liked. Caprice also chose a pink and black carrier to transfer Valentine to her new home. Nana could use it for veterinarian checkups.
Caprice had almost forgotten about the pamphlets Danny suggested until she settled the carrier on the checkout counter. At a glance, she noticed the heading on the pamphlet—Plants Harmful to Cats and Dogs. The list was broken down into two categories.
Toxic to Felines:
Amaryllis, Autumn Crocus, Azaleas and Rhododendrons, Bleeding Hearts, Castor Bean, Chrysanthemum, Cyclamen, English Ivy, Lilies, Oleander, Peace Lily, Spanish Thyme, Tulip and Narcissus bulbs, Yews
Toxic to Canines:
Castor Bean or Castor Oil Plant, Cyclamen, Dumb Cane, Hemlock, English Ivy, Mistletoe, Oleander, Thorn Apple, Yews
With spring coming, she’d be trimming and prettying up the yard. She’d never realized azaleas and bleeding hearts were poisonous to animals. She loved to see the azalea under her bay window bloom in the spring. But maybe it was time she dug it out and substituted a plant that was more animal friendly. She knew about lilies being toxic and had long ago cleared her yard of those. Louise had filled her in on their poisonous properties.
Louise.
Caprice’s thoughts often returned to Louise, her love of flowers . . . and the awful way she’d died.
Ten minutes later, Caprice had turned onto her street when her phone dinged that a text had come in. She knew better than to text and drive, so she pulled over, fitting into a parking space between snowbanks, and checked her screen. It was Nikki.
Are you home?
She texted back. Will be in five minutes.
I’ll be there.
Maybe Nikki wanted to talk about the Sherwood Forest theme, and what she’d serve at the open house on Saturday. Nikki always did her research. It would be interesting to hear what she had in mind.
Another ten minutes later, Caprice was in the kitchen cleaning up after feeding Lady, Sophia, and Valentine.
As soon as Nikki let herself in, she called to the kitchen. “You should be keeping your door locked, especially when you’re snooping for suspects.”
From the kitchen Caprice called back, “I knew you were coming.”
Appearing in the doorway between the dining room and kitchen, Nikki waved her hand and headed for the coffeepot that was already brewing. “It doesn’t matter. Louise’s killer could have gotten here before me.”
A chill ran along Caprice’s neck because she knew Nikki could be right. She should be more careful about something like that.
Nikki went on. “I hope that coffee is laced with chocolate because I need the endorphins.”
“I might have chocolate chips to offer you,” Caprice joked because she wanted to take her mind away from the idea of some stranger entering her house.
“Even chocolate chips sound good right now. They might melt into the coffee.”
“I could make hot chocolate, too, as a chaser.”
“Sounds good,” Nikki decided, pulling four colorful mugs from the wooden tree on the counter.
Lady, who had been resting on a mat at the back door after her lunch, bounded over to Nikki as if she understood she needed consolation.
Nikki crouched down onto the floor with the cocker. Lady rolled over to have her belly rubbed and Nikki obliged.
“Is Drew the reason you need the chocolate?” Caprice asked, knowing Nikki’s mood wasn’t a laughing matter. Nikki was the steadfast sister, the one who didn’t get ruffled, the one who always had a plan.
“Drew, the idea of a partnership, how a business decision on my part could affect what you and I do. I couldn’t sleep last night, and that’s not usually a problem.”
Caprice considered Nikki’s situation, and thought about the best thing to do. That was easy. “Would you like to meet Valentine?”
Immediately Nikki smiled. “Nana called me and told me all about the kitten you found. Sure, I want to meet her. I think it’s a great idea for Nana to take her.”
“She’s a cuddle bunny and perfect for Nana. Marcus tested her and she doesn’t have FIV or feline leukemia. By the end of the week, I’ll take her to Nana.”
Lady followed Caprice and Nikki to the bathroom door. “For now you have to stay out here, and Sophia does, too.” Caprice hoped Lady, as well as her cat, would soon get the message.
“I didn’t see Sophia when I came in,” Nikki said.
“I think she went into my office. She’s probably on my desk chair.”
She opened the bathroom door and they both slipped inside to the sound of Lady’s whine.
Valentine came right over to Caprice and meowed several times. Caprice scooped her up. “I just fed you.”
She positioned Valentine in the crook of her arm and petted her gently. “This is Nikki. You’ll be seeing a lot of her, too.”
“Can I hold her?” Nikki asked eagerly.
Some of the worry had left Nikki’s face. That’s what animals did for humans.
“Sure, hold her close. I think she likes to hear your heartbeat.”
After the transfer, they both sat on the floor. There was scratching at the door.
Caprice sighed.
After another minute or so, it stopped.
Caprice watched Nikki stroking the tiny kitten. Time to get to the issue at hand.
“How did you and Drew leave it after Ace’s party? Did you talk?”
“We talked and—” She hesitated. “It doesn’t matter what happened. He told me to call him when I made up my mind about the partnership. He’s decided simply working for me isn’t a good idea. He wants a partnership or nothing.”
Caprice wondered exactly what had happened. But she wouldn’t push Nikki to tell her now. “A man who deals in ultimatums. How do you feel about that?”
“I know you’d run in the other direction from an ultimatum, but it could be a sign of strength.”
“Or a sign that he’s a control freak.”
“That is possible,” Nikki agreed.
A control freak, Caprice thought. Just what her sister didn’t need.
After their discussion in the bathroom, after Valentine had fallen asleep again, Caprice went to the pantry closet for cocoa and chocolate chips.
As she took a saucepan from the bottom cupboard, Nikki went to the mugs she’d pulled from the mug tree earlier.
“I want to get our menus settled for the Sherwood Forest staging,” she said.
She’d dropped her tote bag near the table, and now she pulled out her electronic tablet. As she laid it on the table, she added, “I know what I want to do. I just need to see if you agree.”
“Shoot,” Caprice said, then realized that might be the wrong
choice of words as she thought about how Louise Downing had died.
Realizing the same thing, Nikki grimaced, then poured the coffee into two mugs.
“I’d like to start with an English pea soup. It’s pretty much a standard pea soup but included in the recipe are crushed mint leaves. I can make it sinfully rich with a bit of cream.”
“I like that idea. Would the soup be the appetizer?”
Nikki spooned sugar and poured milk into Caprice’s mug and simply added milk to hers. “Exactly. An appetizer. One of them, anyway. I’d follow that with traditional English dishes. Did you ever hear of Toad in the Hole?”
Caprice laughed. “This is a recipe?”
“Sure is. It’s similar to Yorkshire pudding. Instead, you place sausages in the batter before baking it.”
Caprice stirred together cocoa, sugar, and salt. She mixed in water and cooked it until it bubbled. Then she added chocolate chips. “It sounds different, and hearty, and woodsy. I like that idea, too. You’re on a roll.”
Ignoring the compliment, Nikki took their mugs to the table. “For another appetizer, I’d add a dish called Angels on Horseback. They were a Victorian after-dinner snack—bacon-wrapped oysters. Supposedly the cooked bacon appears to be angels’ wings.”
When the chocolate chips melted, Caprice turned down the heat and stirred in the milk. “They sound unique, classy, and just what we need for this type of open house. What about your main courses?”
“How about roast beef with a white horseradish sauce, steak and kidney pie, and of course fish and chips? All of it very English. I researched a recipe for a dish called Bubble and Squeak—it’s English fried potatoes and cabbage. I could also roast a vegetable, maybe Brussels sprouts, and dribble them with cheese sauce. We can serve mulled wine with everything.”
“Mulled wine makes me think of England,” Caprice agreed, adding vanilla to the hot chocolate and stirring it in. “The guests at the open house may not have even tasted some of these dishes, except for maybe the fish and chips. That white horseradish sauce will make the roast beef savory. I take it you have a list for desserts, too?”
“They were easy to come up with—orange marmalade cake, gingerbread cookies, plum crumble, bread pudding, and something called Eton Mess.”
“Do I want to know what that is?” Caprice asked with a grin as she switched off the burner.
Nikki checked her notes. “It’s a mixture of whipped cream, meringue, and berries.”
“You have very sweet, semisweet, a little spicy, something heavier, and something very light. All the bases covered again.”
“You really like the menu?”
“I do. Don’t start doubting yourself because a man confused you a little.”
“That’s what men do, confuse me.” She pointed to Caprice’s bracelet. “I heard about that. Seth’s trying to gain points, you know, because he’s not here.”
“I do know that, but I really like him.”
“Hmm,” Nikki said. “I can see we’re not going to get anywhere with that.”
Sophia ambled into the kitchen now to join the party, took a look at Lady who’d settled under the table, and hopped up onto one of the chairs. After she kneaded the yellow braided seat covering, she turned around twice and curled up, her head on her paws, her golden eyes blinking up at Nikki.
As Caprice poured her hot chocolate concoction into two more mugs, Nikki rubbed her hands together. “Let’s talk about your investigation. I need a good distraction, and that’s it.”
“Maybe you can help me see it more clearly.”
Caprice had consolidated it so many times in her mind, that it was easy for her to click it off fact by fact. She began with the crime scene and what she remembered about the candies, the box being opened, the two candies on the floor, the fact that they looked like peanut butter creams that Louise liked, and why Louise might have them there. Candy for breakfast?
“Louise liked her chocolate-covered peanut butter creams.”
“I think those candies have to be considered an anomaly,” Caprice theorized. “Now let’s go over all the suspects. There’s Don Rodriguez who could have had a jealous nature. Maybe Louise wouldn’t leave her husband, and he’d been asking her to. Maybe he resented her for it.”
“What did you feel about him?” Nikki asked, knowing Caprice used her sixth sense just as Nana did, even though she might not admit it.
“I liked him.”
“In what way?”
“He seemed courtly to me, like he cared about Louise. He wasn’t going to interfere in her life, and he hadn’t all these years. He seemed as if he cared, and that he was a real . . . gentleman.”
“You weren’t having the wool pulled over your eyes with the Texas drawl, were you?”
“I don’t think so. I think he was really trying to be honest with me.”
“Next suspect.”
“Pearl Mellencamp still might hold a grudge. She isn’t living in the best of circumstances. Running a cleaning service might not be that profitable. So settlement or not, I’m not sure she’s in a better place.”
“And then, though I hate to say it, you have an obvious suspect, don’t you? The husband.”
Caprice told Nikki what she’d done in phoning the resort and pretending to be Malina Lamont. “It’s pretty certain Chet was having an affair.”
“And it probably wasn’t his first,” Nikki said sarcastically. “And you can’t stop with Chet as a suspect. What about Malina Lamont? What if she wanted him to ask for a divorce and marry her?”
“What if he asked Louise for a divorce and she said no?” Caprice offered.
“Murder is usually about passionate feelings and relationships, and this one doesn’t seem to be any different.”
“Murder can also be about money, but I haven’t told you about my latest and best suspect, Stacy Miller.”
Nikki’s brows drew together as she looked down at her hot chocolate and then at her coffee. She took a sip of the coffee, then quickly took one of the hot chocolate. “Now that I’m fortified, tell me who Stacy Miller is.”
Following Nikki’s example, Caprice took a few sips of her coffee, then her hot chocolate. Not bad. Chocolate chasers could become a trend.
Focusing again, she said, “Louise had a past. I’m not even sure Chet knew about it. I’m going to visit with him next and delve a little more.”
“A past with enemies?”
“Possibly one very important enemy—a woman who blamed Louise for her lover’s death.”
Caprice quickly told Nikki the whole story, thinking about Louise’s change of name, the incidents that had led up to it, the betrayal she must have felt. Nikki switched from the coffee to the chocolate permanently. Then the two sisters gazed at each other.
“What did you say Stacy’s job was?” Nikki asked.
“She worked for her lover who owned a nursery.”
“So she worked with plants?”
Caprice nodded and suddenly remembered the pamphlet she’d picked up at Perky Paws. Rising, she crossed to the refrigerator where she’d attached it with a magnet. Slipping it free, she handed it to Nikki. “That’s a list of plants that are toxic to cats and dogs.”
Nikki read the list, then looked up at Caprice.
“What are you thinking?” Nikki asked.
“I’m thinking that there are plants toxic to humans. I’m thinking about Louise’s trip to the hospital. She got sick after eating an organic chicken wrap, all natural ingredients supposedly. Just what were those ingredients?”
“But Louise was shot,” Nikki protested.
“Yes, she was. But maybe a gun wasn’t the first weapon of choice. I know it’s a long shot, but I keep considering those chocolate-covered creams at the crime scene. Why were they in the greenhouse? It was a full box except for the two on the floor. I don’t think Louise would have had them for breakfast.”
“You never had chocolates for breakfast?” Nikki asked with a wry smile.
But Caprice suddenly remembered something else. “Not while I was working with plants. Louise’s hands were all dirty from the ground she’d been using to transplant.”
“I see your point. You think something lethal was in those chocolates?”
Caprice hopped up so fast, even Sophia and Lady glanced up at her. She reached for her cell phone charging on the counter.
“Who are you calling?” Nikki asked.
“Grant. I’m going to ask him to do me a favor.”
Caprice just hoped he was still speaking to her. Well, why wouldn’t he be? He was the one who hadn’t asked her to dance. He was the one who’d left.
The bracelet Seth had given her jingled on her wrist as she picked up her phone.
Chapter Eighteen
When Caprice dialed Grant’s number, she really didn’t know what to expect. He usually had his phone with him. He usually answered right away. However, today, his phone rang three times, and she was beginning to give up. He could be walking Patches. He could be deep in work. He could see her number and ignore the call.
But he didn’t ignore her call. He picked up.
“Hello?” The word was clipped as if he were busy . . . or something.
“Grant, its Caprice.”
“I have caller ID.”
All right, so maybe he had been thinking about ignoring her call, but then decided to pick up.
“I know you do. I mean—” Just what did she mean? That she’d known this conversation was going to be awkward? And just why was it going to be awkward? Because he hadn’t asked her to dance?
Keeping her thoughts focused, she said honestly, “I need a favor.”
Silence met that declaration until he asked, “A favor? From me? You have a brother who’s a lawyer. You have a boyfriend who’s a doctor. What could you possibly need from me?”
Whoa. He sounded angry, and just why hadn’t she called Vince? Because Vince didn’t seem to have the contacts in the D.A.’s office that Grant had. Because Grant had dealt with Detective Jones when Joe had needed a lawyer. Because . . . There were lots of becauses.
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